Hyatt Family Tree - Home

The family ancestry that I am currently concentrating my
research on is Hyatt
and Hyat,
(which now also includes Waskett,
Guppy,
Westcombe
and Varder)
from 17th century and 18th century Sherborne and Castleton in
Somerset (England) and nearby Dorset (England) as well as Shepton
Mallet in Somerset (England). I am also researching the later
victorian Hyatt
lines of 19th century Hoxton, Shoreditch, Hackney, Essex, Middlesex
in the London area of England.

I am also greatly interested
in the Hyatt,
Waskett
and Beazley
lines from 19th century Essex (England) and Glass
from 18th century and 19th century London (England). Although the
bulk of our Hyatt family and database shown on our website is from
the United Kingdom, we also have extensive Hyatt family research
notes (not all included here) from the USA, including 17th century
and 18th century Hyatt, Hoit and Hyett from Louisiana, New orleans,
Texas and a few other states. Please feel free to Contact us if you want a search
done of our U.S. database and sources.

In the modern idiom the Hyatt family name has at least
six spelling variations including: Hyett, Hyet, Hieatt,
Highett, Highatt, and Hiett. In the past I have also found
Hoyt, Hoit, Hoyle, Hoite, Hoytt, Hoitt, Hoyet, Hoyett, Hoyette,
Hoyghtr, Hoight, Hight, Hite, Hyatt, Hayte, Haite, Hayt,
Haight, and Hayls.

The most commonly accepted
Old English origin of the name HYATT is from Yatt - or In Old
English geat/gaet, and in Middle English yatt and zett, which
are all recognised now as Hyatt and meaning gate, opening or
entrance to woods or land. It may however come from Roger (de)
Ayeatt, one of William the Conqueror's henchmen (1066), who
settled in England after crossing the English Channel from
Normandy.

One theory on the original
French spelling up to the Norman Conquest and for 300 years
later was 'Aiete', but the spelling of names then depended
entirely upon the education and inclination of whoever wielded
the pen, and we find it spelled Ayeatt, Aiete, Ayette, Ayot,
Ayotte, Ayoye, Eyete, Aihate, etc. So it is not surprising to
find as many variations if the 'H' was restored in post Norman
invasion England.

Until proven, for my
branch of the family name I will stay with Hyatt being a
relatively uncommon medieval English surname of residential or
locational origins. It normally described somebody who was
resident at "the High-Gate", which in this context may refer to
the former village of Highgate, in London, or to other places
so named, or to living by the high road, see below.

Many local names like Hyatt
usually denoted where a man held his land, and indicated where the
family actually lived. Habitation names were originally acquired by
the original bearer of the name, who, having lived by, at or near a
place, would then take that name as a form of identification for
himself and his family. When people lived close to the soil as they
did in the Middle Ages, they were acutely conscious of every local
variation in landscape and countryside. Every field or plot of land
was identified in normal conversation by a descriptive term. If a
man lived on or near a hill or mountain, or by a river or stream,
forests and trees, he might receive that word as a family name.
Almost every town, city or village in early times has served to
name local families.

The Hyatt surname spelling
over the centuries was corrupted by changing dialects firstly to
Hy-ate and finally to Hyett or Hyatt. To understand how this
happened it is important to realise that in medieval English the
letters "g" and "y" were synonymous, so that gate and yate could
mean the same thing.

To further complicate the
matter, the word "gate" may mean a road and not refer to "gates" at
all, but to "geats" or roads. "Geat" was a pre 7th century
Danish-Viking word much used in England. Many of the streets in the
ancient walled city of York, the former Viking capital, are called
"gate", whilst the actual "Gates" to the city are called by the
ancient British word "bar" as in Monk Bar or Bootham Bar.
Consequently the surname Hyatt may also be interpreted as "one in
residence at the high-road", as well as the more popular theory
"one in residence at the High-Gate".

An interesting name bearer was
Rev.
John Hyatt (1767 - 1826, included in this Hyatt family
tree as my 8x Great Grandfather), a minister of the London church
known as "The London Tabernacle". He published many religious
tracts and sermons, from which he seems to have made a good living
selling them onto other priests.

The first recorded spelling of
the family name is shown to be that of John atte Hagheyate. which
was dated 1327, in the Kirby's Quest of Somerset during the reign
of Edward 111 of England. Edward high was recorded during the reign
of Edward III (1327-1377) and William Higatt appears in the
Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. James Hyett was Constable of St.
Briavels Castle and Warden of the Royal Forest of Dean. His
descendants, James, and his son Roger, held the office of Constable
and Warden from 1471-1483. Thomas Hiegate of Middlesex was
registered at Oxford University in 1583. Richard Hyott and Anne
Hatchman were married at St. Dionis Backchurch, London in the year
1651.

Throughout the centuries,
surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading
to astonishing variants of the original spelling, not to mention
that many names in pre-1700 records are in Latin. This, of course,
makes it much harder to investigate earlier than 1700 or so. There
are a more detailed notes on the origin of the Hyatt name here if you are
interested.